With 1,814 Palestinians killed and nearly 10,000 injured, any delay is indefensible. Casualties are mounting due to the many injuries and the punishing blockade. It’s clear there needs to be a comprehensive UN arms embargo and on all sides: Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.

And still we wait for Ministers to make a decision. All of this is in stark contrast to David Cameron’s speed in imposing a full arms embargo on Russia, given its role in supporting the conflict in Eastern Ukraine and the Crimea.

Those rules and the Arms Trade Treaty are clear: transferring any equipment that risks fuelling war crimes must be immediately stopped, without condition and without qualification. To do anything else makes the UK directly complicit in war crimes and in clear breach of the rules contained within the Arms Trade Treaty.

With direct sales from the UK to the Israeli Defense Forces, it’s not just a risk. It’s almost certain they will have been used in the current conflict.

We aren’t asking the UK government to do anything that they have not already, publically and on multiple occasions, committed to do.

The comments from Nick Clegg and Vince Cable hinting at a stronger UK response on UK arms sales are reassuring, but even here there is room for interpretation. Freezing supplies to the Israeli military sounds very tough, but in reality it could fall far short of the total embargo we have been calling for.

When, or if, an announcement is finally made, it will need serious scrutiny. Our biggest concern is that the Government may only stop a very few licences going directly to the Israeli military – which is reportedly only a small fraction of our overall UK arms sales to Israel.

Will they also stop the millions of pounds worth of components for drones, combat aircraft, military vehicles, missile systems and targeting equipment to the Israeli defence industry?

And beyond direct sales to Israel, will they also stop the components for F16s and other weapons supplied to Israel via the USA? The previous Labour government specifically changed the rules to allow indirect sales to take place. These loopholes are still in place, and make it almost certain that UK components are in attack aircraft that have been raining bombs down onto women and children in Gaza.

Selling to the sellers who sell to the Israeli Defense Forces

The UK government can’t rely on its traditional mantra of claiming that the weapons it sells to Israel are not facilitating war crimes.

It’s clear that the UK remains a significant supporter of the Israeli defence industry who in turn directly supplies the IDF, facilitating its campaign of disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks. The UK has previously strongly defended such sales on the grounds that they are not sold directly to the Israeli military and therefore won’t be used by them.

But we know that UK rarely physically checks the ‘end use’ of the arms we supply. That could mean that components for, say, drones originally for sale by Israel to other countries, could find their way above Gaza.

It also sends a strong political message that no matter what, the UK will staunchly support and help maintain the Israeli defence sector, bolstering Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks by strongly supporting the military and industrial base that supplies it.

The UK government is not short of pressure, commitments, rules and rhetoric on preventing weapons getting into the hands of those who will use them to commit war crimes. What we need now is action!

About Amnesty UK Blogs
Our blogs are written by Amnesty International staff, volunteers and other interested individuals, to encourage debate around human rights issues.
They do not necessarily represent the views of Amnesty International.

What will it take for HAMAS to agree that the State of Israel has every right to exist as a sovereign state? what will it take for HAMAS to change their declaration that says it wants Israel to be wiped off the face of the earth? what will it take for HAMAS, a terrorist organisation, to stop the rocket attacks that rain down on Israeli citizens all day long? What will it take for HAMAS to stop using the Palestinian people as weapons of war?

What will it take? very simply, all it will take is for the Palestinians to love their children more then they hate the Israelis.
Your campaign against the Israeli people is unhelpful to say the least, where are the petitions against the indiscriminate rocketing of innocent Israeli citizens and their children by an illegal terrorist organisation whose atrocities would not be tolerated in any other sovereign state in the world?

I am disgusted that an organisation who is supposed to be fighting for people's human rights would take such a stand against a legal, democratic State and instead say nothing about the human rights that are being violated on a daily basis by an illegal, barbaric terrorist group, who by their own admission will not be content until Israel cease to exist altogether.

The latest news from Palestine? they have yet again broken the delicate ceasefire that has existed, this time for just a few precious hours!

Let's see fair treatment for both sides of this conflict, have some courage and openly condemn HAMAS for the way they have scuppered any chance for peace in the area. An area where I have trustworthy family and friends on the ground, who are not afraid to tell the truth about what is really going on in this area of the world.